Weekend #2 - Kamwala Market and the Sugarbush

This weekend featured both ends of the Zambian economic ladder, starting on Saturday with a visit to the Kamwala Market.  The market is located in the center of Lusaka, near the railway tracks and is apparently not the scariest market (that's the Soweto market) so we thought we'd start there.  Still our guidebook advised us to take no valuable - but I brought my camera anyway.
The market is a crazy maze of shacks and shops that form tiny rows and alleyways along with a couple of major sandy/dirt thoroughfares.  After our trusty cabbie dropped us off, Kat and I plunged in.  It didn't take long for us to realize that of the 5,000 or so people there, we were the only 2 muzungus!  Pretty much everything was on sale there, including strings of women's underwear and bras, cell phones, piles and piles of shoes, bags of charcoal and everything else in between.  A lot of the clothes donated in your local used clothing box end up in these market, so who knows, I could have bought one of my own shirts.  We combed through some alleys, but got a bit worried that we would be lost inside and never emerge, so we tried to keep sight of daylight.  A new Chipolopolo golf shirt was the only purchase made.  . This picture was taken seconds before a guy gave me "tsk-tsk - no more pictures" and wagged his finger at me.  The camera was put away forthwith!  Having survived (and even thrived) on that adventure, our next market stop will be Soweto (but with a Zambian and without a camera)

On Sunday we took a 10km trek out of town to a place called the Sugarbush, because we heard it had nice crafts and a great herb garden.  That was a slight understatement.  It felt like we were in the English countryside, with a gorgeous craft / leather bag shop (with north american prices), backing onto a gorgeous cafe/garden with amazing food.  Check out www.jackalandhide.net to see what I'm talking about.  It was a little weird, because I could swear I wasn't in Zambia at all.  We loaded up on herbs, freshly picked lettuce and cherry tomatoes and had a very civilized dinner when we got home of Kat's famous roast chicken and the freshest salad I've ever eaten.